Literature (Genre/Form Term)

Britannica online, Jan. 23, 2013 (Literature: a body of written works. The name has traditionally been applied to those imaginative works of poetry and prose distinguished by the intentions of their authors and the perceived aesthetic excellence of their execution)

OED online, Oct. 20, 2014: literature (literature, n. 3a. The result or product of literary activity; written works considered collectively; a body of literary works produced in a particular country or period, or of a particular genre. 3b. Without defining word: written work valued for superior or lasting artistic merit) literary (adj., 1. Of or relating to the writing, study, or content of literature, esp. of the kind valued for quality of form; of the nature of literature) belles-lettres (n., elegant or polite literature or literary studies. A vaguely-used term, formerly taken sometimes in the wide sense of 'the humanities,' literæ humaniores; sometimes in the exact sense in which we now use 'literature'; in the latter use it has come down to the present time, but it is now generally applied (when used at all) to the lighter branches of literature or the æsthetics of literary study) creative writing (n., writing which displays imagination or invention (sometimes differentiated from academic, journalistic, or other forms of writing which are more constrained in style or scope); also freq. (orig. U.S.) as a subject of study) anthology (1. A collection of the flowers of verse, i.e. small choice poems, esp. epigrams, by various authors; originally applied to the Greek collections so called. 2. Extended to other literary collections)

LCSH, Oct. 22, 2014 (Literature. UF Belles-lettres.)